The Times Educational Supplement also heard advice not to pursue the highest quality work in GCSE history because pupils could get an A* without it.
The QCA exams watchdog said examiners had a duty not to undermine the system.
One-day seminars typically have attendance fees of £100 to £200 a head.
The paper said it had been allowed to sit in on the two sessions on condition it did not identify the examiners involved.
In the French advice session, teachers were told to get pupils to write key phrases into their exercise books, that could later be transferred into their coursework.
They could spend two years learning the answers to a list of 42 possible questions, a few of which would be asked in the exam.
Schools' internal marking of coursework should be "realistically generous" - within exam board guidelines.
